Compressor



Seht. 2, 1952 E. M. J. L EPICARD 2,608,932

' COMPRESSOR Filed Aug. e, 1947 4 2 sHEETs-sm'r 1 E. M. J. LEPICARD COMPRESSOR sept. z, 1952 Filed Aug. 6, 1947 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Patented Sept. 2, 1952 or-Fics lcoMPREssoit :EtiermeMarie Jules Lepicard, Neuillysur-Seine, France Application 'ugust 6,194.7,1Seria1No. 166,686 y In'FranceOctober 7 1941 Sections-1,' Public'Law 690, August"8,1946

` :Patent expires October 7, 1961 3 Claims; j I1 The presentinve'nton relatesto 'control devices for rotary machines such as motors, compressors, pumps and so on, of the kind including two'grioups of blades or pistons, housed in a cylindrical drum and 'respectively keyed on-Y independent 'coaxial shaftsturning at' variablespeeds suchthat' the accelerations of one'group correspond to thejdecelerationsof the'other group,` so as thus to obtain volume variations for "the intervals .between two adjacent blades, and consequ'ei'itl'y':suction and compression `effects in "the case ofreceiving machines or driving' effects in lthe *case of motor machines.` v

The 'chief obj ect `ofrny *inventionv is lto replace theconvntional control means] for 'obtaining or transmitting the movementjoithe" blades of rpistons, which vmeans "included levers,v 'cains gears, etc.;- by means which Vare simpler, stronger'and of longer duration, thesevnew means further ensuringa very high power outputwith respect tothe dimensions`- of the machine.

Preferred embodiments of "myinvention will be hereinafter described with 'reference to theaccompanying draw-ings, ygiven ymerely by -way V'of examplepand in which:

*Figs 1 'to' 3 show, respectively'inflongitudinal section, in cross section ron I`theflinei IIfLII of Fig. l and in cross' section on the' line III-III-of Fig. l, a rotary rnachine -madeaccording vto a first embodiment ofmytinvention;

"Figs. lla, 4b and 4c'--are respective diagrammatical r'views-of lfa'p'ortifm of 'the' control vdevice ofthe machineof`5igs; 1- to` 3, the parts occupying three diiferents'ucce'ssive characteristic positions;

JFigs. i5 `and 6 show, respectively'in` longitudinal section and Lin cross` section lonv the line VI-'IVI oflig.' f5, La rotary machine made accordingto a secondiembodimentoffmy'iinvention fA'Ihez-r'tarylsystem 'proper includes AasI usual, a cylindrical stator or drumV I ii'n -whichffare litte'd two',l groups of blades `21. and 5122, leach group Aifncludingwfo'ur blades atgfffrom'one another and b'inzgmounted Y on a distinct y"shaftlfill*or 32. Shafts 31 and 32 are arranged coaxiaLinfthe Adrum and `for 'thispurpose blades 21lmay=be1keyedon a solid'shaft.v 31: which extends overthewhle length of stator I"fand1.blades-'22fona tubular `(shaft 132 which tfreelyf engaged .-"onashaftf- 31 {andi-which extends. substantially Y overvfone :Ihalf: of` the' inter-.- val between the!vla-teralwallsfof said stator. The blades arearr-anged lin such Ymanner asI eachblade of one group is located between two blades off'thc other group. p y 1 y lIn .the wall.. of` the stator .I1-provide holes 4 for the inflow of the fluid (either liquid or gases) I v2 and holes 5 for .the outilow of the -fluidthatis delivered or compressed, these various holes being suitably disposed, account being taken on the one 4hand of ,the rotary movement of the.` blades abou-t the axis oftheir driving shafts and on the other hand of the relative movementof .the blades of one group -with respect to those of the .other group. Holes a4 .and 5-open .into ,inlet condut oryoutlet conduit .'I for? the fluid, these .conduits being fior instance. provided -in the body or vframe of lthemachi-ne. Accordingto rmy invention, rotation .at variable speedv of driving. shaftsY .31 and 32 .isV lobtained through two interconnected .mechanisms which willbe 'hereinafterdescribed In the case .offthe example according to Figs. 1 .to3, these Amechanisrns -are provided on the same 'sideoftheV drum, which permits of combining together Asorneoi .the parts,;and lreducing the space occupied by v the whole. In the .case of llthe' example accordingto Eigs.5.and .6, the Vmechanisms ,in question are provided -on opposite-sidesfof the drum which .is better for balancing purposes, lmore particularly in .the casevof a .motor machine.

.Inlth'e embodiment according to Figs. 1- to 3, shaft'sll and?,2 .extendbeyond the sidewall of the drum I and to a length such that ea'chfshaft end 4can carry a plate1 or2 and thataninterval is. left. between said plates .for inserting between them 5.a .disc `9., driven in a continuous manner andintthe desired direction bya ,main shaft f-I'U actuated through apulley-.suchas-that designated by Ifleon In-{the example shown,each of theqplates 81.andfll2` vis provided with yfour Aradial slideways or grooves 121 and li22";respectively,at right yangles -togone` :another and` plates 8l yandi;2 arefso -keyed on their-respective shafts-3.1 andfzz that ,their grooves 12T-and I22V occupy `;=posi ti:ins. with respect tothe correspondingblades-Zl andi?. such that, when the axes of these grooves are lat .to each other, the Vaxes `of the two igroupsmf blades also make an angle of 245 between them. @On the `lateral faces of `disc '9 I `provide two l:sets of-fzour lingers` or -rollers lItl and |32., the four rollers ,of y each set being located at :the respective endsffof two diametral 4 planes .atV right anglesito each 'other and the -two diametral planesior one set Lbeing' at\45 rtothe diametral'-planes'othe othery set. These @sets yof rollers are adapted to cooperate with-the jgroovesg-I 21-and L22 :of plates 81 vand B2. It 'follows -thatcontinuous :rotation of main shaft Hl causes the twoggroups ofi: blades to rotate at variablespeed. and ythatthe1 engagement of any one of rollers 431 fforfinstancegin the corresponding groove |21 of plate 81, when said plate 81 is just for this instant having a speed equal to zero, takes place when one of the rollers |32 is at the inner end of its groove |22 of plate 82, and, consequently when the speed of plate 82 is maximum. All the rollers are at a, distance from shaft I such that as each of them enters or leaves its corresponding groove, the circular path of travel of this roller is then tangent to the geometrical axis of said groove. This eliminates any cause of shock or noise in the control. A casing |4 surrounds the whole of this control device. v

As shown by Figs. 4a to 4c. each inlet hole 4 and a corresponding outlet hole 5 are located close to each other but on opposite sides of a radial plane of drum at right angles to the vertical plane passing through the axes ofA shafts- 31, 32 and I0.

If it is supposed that blades 21 and 22 respectively cover the corresponding inlet orifice 4 and the outlet orifice 5 (Fig. 4a) and that main shaft l0 is caused tojturn, together with rollers |3m, |311. and |3p through 22 30 in the clock-wise direction (arrow X), I obtain a relative rotation movement in the anticlockwise direction (arrow Y) of blades 21 and 22. The interval PON between two yadjacent blades, which, in Fig. 4a was about becomes in Fig. 4b 45 and interval NOM, which was about 75, decreases to 45. If the main shaft further rotates to 22 30 (Fig. 4c) the interval PON of 45 becomes '75 and the interval of NOM decreases from 45 down to about 15.. Therefore, for a rotation of 45 'of the main shaft, theinterval between two adjacent blades increases `or decreases by 60. Consequently, for a full revolution of shaft l0, each interval undergoes four volume increases corresponding each to an angle of 60, that is to say on the whole 240 andfour decreases of volume corresponding also to a total of 240. As, in the example that is shown, there are eight intervals between the variousblades 21 and 22, the machine can suck in and deliver a volumev represented by 240 8=1920. that is to say l920:360-- 5.33 times the useful volume ofthe cylindrical stator, which corresponds to a particularly high output with respect to thevolume and dimensions of the compressor orpump.

In the embodiment according to Figs. 5 and 6, shaft 31 extends beyond one of the side walls of the drum and shaft 32 beyond the other of these walls, and on yeach shaft end there is mounted a disc 91 or 92 carrying a series of rollers 31 or |32. Ihes'e two series of rollers cooperate respectively with' plates 81 and82 fixed to the main shaft I0 driven by a pulley or the like. The 'control devices are then housed in distinct casing 41 and |42. Despite these differences of construction, the machine according to Figs. 5 and 6 works in a manner analogous to that according to Figs. 1 to 3. `1I.thus obtain a rotary machine which vcan be used both as a driving machine, being then fed with steam, compressed air, combustible gases etc., and as a receiving machine (compressor, pump or analogous) for sucking inandfdischargingliquids or gases, this machine truly complying, in both cases, with the purposes above Aset forth.

Among the chief advantages obtained by means of a rotary machine of this kind I may state:

l.'A high output due to the absence of friction of the movable parts (blades or pistons) against the wall of the stator;

2.' An oil consumption practically equal to zero for the same reason; i

3. Simplicity and strength of the parts included in the control device and consequently high economy of construction and longer use;

4. A volume occupied about ten times smaller than that of a conventional blade compressor or Dump;

5. An excellent volumetric output due to the fact of the low amount of leaks, as these leaks can only take place through leak lines of very small length due to the small dimensions of the machine and for a very short time (1/8 of a revolution for the example shown) for the suction and compression strokes.

. In a general manner, while I have in the above description, disclosed what I deem to be practical and efficient embodiments of the present invention, it should be well understood that I do not wish to vbe limited thereto as there might be changes made in the arrangement, disposition and form of the parts without departing from the principle of the present invention as comprehended within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A rotary uid machine which comprises, in combination, a frame, a circular drum fixed in said frame and provided with four inlet holes and four outlet holes, every inlet hole and one corresponding outlet hole being disposed on opposite sides respectively of, and adjacent to, one of two diametral planes at right angles to each other, a fluid inlet conduit connected with said four inlet holes, a fluid outlet conduit connected with said four outlet holes, two shafts coaxially journalled in said drum, a set of four blades each at right angles to the adjacent ones fixed to one of said shafts and having their edges adjusted to move along the inner walls of said drum, a set of four blades each at right angles to the adjacent ones fixed to the other of said shafts and having their edges adjusted to move along the inner walls of said drum, said shafts extending to the outside of said drum. two plates fixed to the portions of said shafts on the outside of said drum, each of said plates being provided with four radial slideways locatedin two diametral planes at right angles to each other, a third shaft journalled in said frame having its axis parallel to that of the two first mentioned shafts and located in the bisector plane of the dihedralangle made by two first mentioned diametral planes, and eight fingers carried by said third shaft adapted to slide respectivelyl in the eight slideways of saidtwo plates,- these eightfingers being located in four diametral planes of said third shaft making angles'of 45 ,with one another, all of said fingers being at a distance from the axis of said third shaft such that when a slideway is at an angle of 45 to the above mentioned bisector plane passing through the axis of the three shafts, the corresponding finger is just engaging or leaving said slideway and is moving along a trajectory the tangent to which coincides with the axis 0 said slideway.

2. A machine according to claim 1 in which the portions of the two first mentioned shafts located on the outside of said drum are on the same side thereof, a plate carried by said third shaft between the planes of the two first mentioned plates carrying the fingers which cooperate with the respective slideways of said two rst mentioned plates.

3. A machine according to claim 1 in which the portions of the two first mentioned shafts located on the outside of said drum are on opposite sides thereof.

N be ETIENNE MARIE JULES LEPICARD. 124,535 REFERENCES CITED 5 g The following references are of record in the 879,140

file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date 10 Kleinhans Apr. 13, 1926 Number 6 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Sweden Dec. 18, 1912 Austria Aug. 10, 1929 Great Britain Aug. 2, 1921 France Nov. 10, 1942 

